Between the lines: Begin
by leytonio
Summary: (formerly potential subject) A man living the same life as Desmond Miles, works far apart, for the same cause.
1. James

**Leytonio.**

**Something I find exceptionally annoying is that whenever I get partway through a story, I get a better idea for another story,**

**I have put my other one on hold temporarily so a can do this one.**

**Basic Story- in Sydney resides a potential subject 17 before D. Miles came into play. This is his story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own assassins creed or Ubisoft or anything, leave me alone I didn't kill anyone in the production of this story, I hope.**

"_Warren, we've tracked a potential replacement for Clay."_

"_Go ahead Miss Stillman"_

"_I've followed the genealogy of the Italian assassins during the renaissance, and it leads to some of the Australian colonial settlers"_

"_Do we have a name yet?"_

"_Not yet, I-"_

"_Then keep looking"_

_-Sydney, Australia_

"Trial the Animus today! Relive the past in the eyes of your fathers"

It had been the millionth time James had heard the recorded message, he was next in line at the new Abstergo store in Sydney and he was trialling the new _Animus_ system, which from what he had heard was pretty good.

"Next in line please"

James snapped to attention and walked forward.

"Alright, just lay down here, and I'll get you set up"

James lay down on the obscenely hi-tech 'block of steel' as he thought of it, and a curved visor was put in place in front of him.

"You have fifteen minutes"

The woman took a DNA sample from his blood, plugged it into the machine, and the display flickered into life.

Several last names, starting with his, Cordac, arranged themselves In a long list.

He scrolled up, the last names becoming more and more obscure until he saw something.

One of the names was outlined in red.

Confused, James looked at the woman on the computer, who looked equally puzzled.

He selected the name and a warning box showed up:

WARNING: FILE NAME –AUDITORE- HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said aloud

"I'm not sure… for some reason it's blocked. Let me see what I can do…"

A list of names appeared.

"You can't simulate anyone, but at least you can browse the names"

AUDITORE DOMENICO

AUDITORE MARIO

AUDITORE GIOVANNI DA FIRENZE

AUDITORE RENATO

AUDITORE CLAUDIA DA FIRENZE

AUDITORE MARIA DA FIRENZE

AUDITORE EZIO DA FIRENZE

AUDITORE PETRUCCIO DA FIRENZE

AUDITORE FEDERICO DA FIRENZE

AUDITORE FLAVIA

AUDITORE MARCELLO

0110100101110010001110100100101

"I can't get you any more, why not, move to another family?" the woman suggested."

"No… I think I'll go…"

"are you sure? You haven't even tested the Animus yet" she sounded surprised.

"Nah, just not in the mood anymore"

"Alright then…"

The visor retracted and the next in line stepped out.

James jostled past the crowd and looked back as he made for the exit.

The woman from Abstergo was watching him the whole time.

-2 hours later

James walked into his apartment, dumping his bag on the bed. He walked straight over to his desk and sat down, opening his laptop.

Sighing he opened up Abstergo's website.

_Welcome to Abstergo Industries home page_ it read. He didn't feel very welcome.

Clicking on the search bar, he typed in 'Auditore' and clicked search.

Nothing happened.

Frowning, he clicked again.

A small hourglass appeared on the screen.

"Dammit!" he sighed in frustration. His internet was always crashing.

Suddenly the hourglass vanished and the word AUDITORE. appeared on the screen.

Slowly the letters rearranged themselves and formed the words A. ERUDITO.

A small window popped up in the corner of the screen; 'A Erudito is requesting a chat'.

Squinting to make sure he read all of this right, he clicked 'accept'

A. Erudito: Who is this?

J. Cordac: What the hell is going on?

A. Erudito: How do you even know the name Auditore, if you aren't Abstergo employed?

J. Cordac: How would you know if I was?

There was a long pause.

A. Erudito: It is not always safe to talk in this way

J. Cordac: what do you mean?

A. Erudito: sometimes we can be watched

J. Cordac: by who? You aren't making any sense

A. Erudito: how did you hear the name Auditore?

J. Cordac: it was a blocked name when I trialled the Animus

A. Erudito: the name Auditore was in your ancestry?

J. Cordac: yeah…

A. Erudito: And Abstergo has a sample of your DNA?

J. Cordac: I think so

A. Erudito: You have to be incredibly cautious. There is every chance that they are onto you.

J. Cordac: Who is they?

A. Erudito: give me your email and I will tell you everything

J. Cordac: jamesc

A. Erudito: thank you

_A. Erudito has disconnected._

"man" James sighed looking at the conversation.

Suddenly a window popped up.

_You have been banned from . reason: Contact with user-Erudito_

He stared at the message for a few seconds then immediately deleted his history and closed the internet.

His phone beeped twice.

According to his phone, he had two new emails.

Opening up his emails he read the first one.

EMAIL SENDER: alanerudito

EMAIL ATTACHMENTS: The Templars and

BEGIN MESSAGE

They are onto you. I'm sending someone to pick you up at the airport. GET OUT NOW.

END MESSAGE

James opened the second email.

EMAIL SENDER: wvidic

BEGIN MESSAGE

Mr. Cordac,

We at Abstergo require your services for a project we are running. Your capabilities are just the thing we are looking for. We are sending a car to pick you up.

Warren Vidic.

p.s. we have also been informed that you have been making contact with the user 'Erudito' continuing contact will jeopardise your future with Abstergo.

END MESSAGE

James grabbed his bag.

It was time to leave.


	2. The Scent of Danger

**Leytonio,**

**Sometimes I write chapters in fits and starts. Mostly because sometimes I'm like 'meh, not in the mood', and other times I'm like 'write ALL the chapters!' and as I'm feeling like the latter at the moment, here's chapter 2.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Assassin's creed only James Cordac.**

'Warren, I have a full description on three animus candidates'

'Yes, yes…'

'Desmond Miles, American, age 25, negative on location, strong ties with Medieval assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, And Italian assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, possibly others.

'James Cordac, Australian, age 22, positive on location, strong ties with Italian assassin Ezio Auditore and English assassin Peter Bellary.

'Dmitry Borol, Russian, age 38, negative on location, strong ties with Russian assassin Nikolai Orelov.'

'Orelov? Didn't Cross fill that purpose already?'

'These are the only three known subjects'

'I'll send a team to pick up Cordac, and try to confirm Miles' location. Borol is of no use at the moment.'

-Sydney, Australia

Things got ugly quickly.

James was packing his bag, clothes, books, his laptop, a few keepsakes, and snatched a small wooden box from his desk and packed that as well.

He was zipping it up when he heard a car pull up outside.

"they can't possibly be here already…"

Two men in dark suits got out of the car.

"Shit!" James said, as they made their way to the door.

Slinging his pack over his shoulder, he ran into the hallway and barged through the fire escape, taking the stairs two at a time.

He jumped down to the ground and took off toward the road.

Reaching an intersection out the front of the apartment building, he ran up to a motorcyclist and threw him off the bike, attracting the attention of the abstergo agents.

"shit, shit, shit!" he muttered, taking off on the bike.

The agents clambered into their car which, James noticed looked fairly fast. It seemed they had come prepared for any outcome.

He realised too late that in all the panic, he hadn't put a helmet on, the wind was getting in his eyes and he could barely see a thing.

He swerved around a taxi and headed down another road, hearing the pursuing car screech as it followed.

Turning into a small courtyard, James hazarded a glance behind him.

The man in the passenger seat had a gun aimed for his tyres.

James swerved just in time to avoid the first shot, which ricocheted off the tiled paving.

James turned a corner, narrowly missing the wall.

Unfortunately, he pursuer understeered and rammed the side of his rear wheel, sending James crashing into a garden as the car plowed into a tree.

He lay there for a second, trying to catch his breath as he heard the men crawl from the car.

"ugh, nobody said it was this difficult…"

"since when does anyone tell us anything? Now shut up and start looking"

He got on his hands and knees and tried to crawl away.

"that crash must have knocked him out or wounded him"

"shit… he'd better not be dead"

James accidentally stepped on a packet of chips, which rustled loudly.

"what was that?" one asked

James looked up for a split second, revealing his face.

"he's there!" The man yelled, giving chase again.

The other man fell to the ground, clutching his ankle.

James climbed onto a garbage bin, and then rolled onto the roof of a toilet block.

Following suit, the man faced off against James on the roof.

The agent aimed a punch at his face, which James ducked under and tackled him to the ground.

They struggled before the agent got on top and began beating James.

James took the man by surprise, whacking him in the guts then tossing him off.

Off the roof that was.

The man yelled out as he fell, slamming his face on the concrete and laying still.

"Bloody hell" muttered James as he picked himself up and hurried away before the man could recover.

-1 Hour later

"Thanks" James said, paying his fare as the taxi drove off.

He walked toward the entrance to the Sydney international airport and through the automatic doors.

He stopped.

Several men and a woman in the same uniform as the previous agents were in the room.

Some were lingering around the customs, watching everyone who tried to leave. Others were trying to remain unnoticed, sitting at bars or pretending to be interested in travel brochures.

As he was taking this in, there was a yell.

"Leave me alone!"

"Come with us, James"

"James? Who the fuck's James? Get off me!"

One of the agents had stopped someone with similar clothes wearing a beanie.

"Don't waste my time"

"Get the hell away from me! I don't know anyone called James!"

The guard pulled off the beanie, revealing long brown hair, rather than James' short black hair.

"False alarm, you're free to go"

"I'm going home, and I'm going to tell my lawyer **ALL** about this, he'll sort you out!"

The man stormed off.

_Time to leave, _James thought as the agents resumed their search.

-20 minutes later

James opened his laptop on the desk in the corner of the library.

FROM: jamesc

TO: alanerudito

BEGIN MESSAGE

There's a problem. The airport is completely locked down. No hope of getting through.

END MESSAGE

It was short, but it filled its purpose.

For now though, he needed a place to hide out temporarily, until he got the reply from Alan. Somewhere close to the library and the airport.

Stepping onto the street again, he scanned the area for any possible places.

A sports field, for soccer or cricket stood across from the library. It looked as if a game hadn't been playes there for months, and there was an abandoned sports equipment shed at the end of the field.

_Perfect._

He tried the handle. Locked. He kicked at the door hard, then again and again until the lock smashed and the door swung open.

Inside were a few storage benches, soccer balls and spare clothes. James shoved the stuff away to make room for his bag.

It wasn't much, but it would do for thee night.


	3. Calm Before the Storm

**Hey guys,**

**Sorry that some of my times for posting are far apart, I had just finished a whole lot of exams, and then was too tired to do anything.**

**Also, I rather like feedback and reviews rather much **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own assassin's creed, but I do however, own my characters (and technically the character of Alan Erudito, as the actual person has never been mentioned in canon, or his personality.)**

/-.. -/-. - -/- .-. ..- … -/. …- . .-. -.- - -. ./

James woke up to the pattering of rain on the corrugated-iron roof of he shed.

It was four o' clock in the morning, and James couldn't sleep.

He rolled over painfully, he had been lying on something, a cricket bat. He opened his bag that he had been using as a pillow and went through the things he had.

His laptop, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of jeans, a t-shirt, a jumper, a grey-black jacket, a few apples, a box of dried apricots, a hammer (he had no idea why he took that), and the wooden box.

He took the box out and looked at it.

On the top it had one of those puzzles in which you had to slide several pieces around to make a picture. It was hopeless, James didn't have a clue what the picture was.

He skimmed over the details of the previous day in his mind, the animus (he never found out what it did), the emails, what did they say again? Something about a file…

A file.

James hurriedly took out his laptop, opened it up and riddled out his password.

The email page was still up, he quickly downloaded the file, anxiously watching the bar on the screen and opened it.

_THE TEMPLARS AND THE ASSASSINS, it read_

_Templars…_

He kept reading.

_Since ancient times, there has been a secret global war under everyone's noses. A war that involves many people. Julius Caesar, Pope Alexander, Nikolai Tesla, George Washington, Winston Churchill. These are all men who were involves in this secret war._

_The war consists of two main sides: The Templars, (a picture of a cross was depicted beneath), and the assassins, (a picture of some sort of elaborate rounded isosceles triangle with a pointed top)._

_Basically, the Templars goal was to unite the world through control and order, whereas the assassins' goal was to unite the world through peace._

_There is another main factor in this as well, the pieces of Eden._

_These were objects or artefacts left by those who came before, the superior original inhabitants of the earth, now all gone._

_These pieces of Eden have certain properties, mind control, illusions, etc. Causing a lot of trouble for both sides. _

_Currently the assassins are losing the war, and the Templars own Abstergo. This is where we come in._

_Erudito Industries works to directly oppose Abstergo, and bring all their secrets to light. We do this by hacking into their systems, and aiding the assassin's without their knowledge._

_Currently Abstergo are attempting to obtain one or more pieces of Eden. Their motive is currently unknown, but they are attempting it by use of the Animus Project._

_The Animus project is a project run by Abstergo which aims to locate and retrieve pieces of Eden by Templars can. This is why we need you. You are a descendant of several key people who came into contact with certain pieces of Eden. _

He closed the document, his head spinning.

He knew this, of course he did. Except for the pieces of Eden, he had heard this story before. He had heard it from…

He shook those thoughts out of his head. He knew where _that_ was going and he didn't like it.

/.- … … .- … … .. -./

He stepped into the foyer of the library, sopping wet. The receptionist looked up at him with irritation at him dripping all over the carpet.

"sorry" he offered weakly, as he took off his jacket.

He walked over to the computer section of the library and plugged his laptop into the internet cable.

Opening up his emails, he instantly saw a reply from Alan tagged 'important'.

FROM: alanerudito

TO: jamesc

CC: brianisbetterthanyou

BEGIN MESSAGE

Got it. I'll send my man Brian to pick you up. He'll be waiting at the Centrepoint tower. Might be too dangerous to go anywhere else. I'll be flying in to join you.

END MESSAGE

So now he had to go all the way to the Centrepoint tower. Great!

Walking out and putting his jacket on again, James got on a tour bus headed in the direction of the tower. He was one of the only ones on the bus, not much chance of sightseeing in the storm.

Thunder crackled in the distance as the bus stopped at the tower.

"Anyone off at the Sydney Tower?!" the driver called out over the torrent of rain splattering all over the windows.

Sydney Tower, Centrepoint Tower, same thing. Either way it was hidden in the clouds.

He stepped off the bus and ran to a shaded area in front of the entrance to the tower.

He scanned the street for parked cars, which were in plenty.

James spotted a large Range Rover with a massive bulbar, and lights on inside.

_That'll be it, _James thought as he ran over to the car and knocked on the window.

Nothing happened.

He hammered on the window and yelled. He was getting soaked.

Nothing happened.

He looked through the soaked window and made out the shape of someone lying down on the back seats.

The bloody idiot was asleep!

James ran over to the boot of the car and tried it.

It opened and swung outwards, letting the rain get in. So much for security.

The sudden tremendous sound in the car woke the guy in there up with a start.

"Who's there?" he said sleepily.

"It's me you idiot, open the door!" James yelled through the boot.

"oh, right"

The door unlocked and James climbed inside after shutting the boot.

"Sorry 'bout that" Brian grinned.

James fought off the urge to choke him.

/-.-. .- -./ -.- - ..-/-… ./… ..- .-. . ..-../

**Don't forget to R&R or else I'll get lonely **

**-leytonio**


	4. In Deep Trouble

**Hey guys,**

**I've resolved to stop asking for reviews, cos it makes me look like a knob.**

**Hope you liked the last chapter,**

**-Leytonio**

/- …. . -.-/.- .. .-.. .-../..-. .. -. -../-.- - ..-/

It took three hours for them to arrive.

The rain didn't let up either, as if it was trying to dent the roof with its might, and it almost succeeded too.

James looked over to the man sitting beside him.

From what he could tell, he was in his late twenties. He had a blonde mullet and needed to shave. He was wearing a leather jacket and jeans, and obviously thought of himself as some kind of superstar.

"So you're Brian?"

"Brian Daley" he replied.

"Where did you come from?" James asked.

"I was up near Melbourne" Brian said, "Alan gave me a call and told me to get my ass down here quick, so I did. All night."

"Don't blame you for sleeping"

"I shouldn't have been though, could you not tell anyone about this? Alan'll have my head if he found I was snoozing on the job"

James nodded.

"Is it just Alan that's coming?"

"Don't think so, there's Erin and maybe Marcus or Kyle"

"When are they coming?"

"Mate, if I knew that, I would have been a little less early"

"What's he like?"

"Alan? Oh, he's fine most of the time, but if you screw up he can be a little…" he tried to find the right word, "…tense"

"Tense how?"

"Don't worry, forget I said that too."

Not much happened after that, Brian dozed off again, and James just stared outside for a while. When that got boring he fiddled with his puzzle again. Eventually he saw three people running up towards the car, one holding an umbrella, one wheeling one of those things you get at the airport for your bags (James couldn't remember what they were called).

James whacked Brian in the head to wake him up.

"Whadda hell wassat for?" he mumbled.

"They're here genius, unlock the door!"

"Oh crap!" he said, waking up quickly.

He grabbed the keys and unlocked the car.

The boot opened and someone shoved a bunch of boxes in.

Then the door opened and someone got in.

"Shove over"

"Nice to meet you too" James muttered as another person piled in beside him.

"No room, go to the passenger door" a woman on the other side said.

Soon whoever was outside then shut the boot and obliged.

"They're onto us, go!" yelled the guy in the passenger seat to Brian, who was starting the car.

"Keep your pants on Alan, I'm going" he replied to the other guy, of whom James could only see the back of his head, which had brown hair with grey streaks running through it.

They raced forward with a squeal of tyres on wet road.

"Are they behind us?" The guy next to James said, trying to see through the impenetrable mist behind him.

"I don't think so," Alan said. He turned back to Brian, who was focused on his driving. "We need to get to a safe house, do you know any?"

"There's one in Bilpin I think."

"Bilpin?" James asked, "The place with all the apples?"

"Yeah, there's a bunch of orchards up there, but it's better because the safe house has no cell signal."

"Cell signal? Isn't that a good thing?"

"No, it's not" said the man to James' right, who had straight-cut brown hair, "Abstergo control all the cell towers from here to Moscow, and they can see everything."

They came to a set of traffic lights.

"Go through them" Alan said before Brian could say anything, "If we stop they'll catch us for sure"

James could only see the lights of other cars beeping at them as they sped onto a highway. James caught a glimpse of the observatory, with its flags dancing crazily in the wind.

"So what are your names?" he asked.

"Erin Barrington" the woman said.

"I'm Marcus Porter" the man on the other side of James said.

Three minutes later, Brian spoke up.

"I think we have a problem guys"

"What is it?"

"There's this big grey Audi that's been following us closely for ages, I've tried speeding but it just follows suit."

James looked behind him.

"Damn! It's those guys from earlier!"

Brian put his foot down. The car shot forward along the road. Somehow James got the impression that this car ran on more than just petrol.

"I can't lose them!" Brian said

"Are there any weapons in here?" Erin asked

"There should be a locker under my seat" he replied

The Sydney harbour bridge loomed up ahead, its curved iron girders dripping from the endless torrent of rain.

Marcus pulled out a steel locker from under the seat and opened it.

Immediately grabbing a single-shot rifle from the mess in the box, Marcus slid open the sunroof, letting rain soak the inside of the car.

"Move" he said to James, who obliged, letting James poke his head out of the sunroof.

Erin was holding a pistol, the only other weapon there.

"You do it" she said answering James' question before he said it, "I can't shoot for shit"

Wondering how she expected him to do any better he took the gun and leaned out of his window.

The true force of the storm hit him. The freezing air was biting at his skin, and the never ending rain had him soaked in seconds, making his earlier efforts to dry himself obsolete.

James took the pistol in his hands and cocked it, making sure there was a bullet in the chamber.

A loud bang came from above, as Marcus took a shot at the windscreen of the car, drilling a neat hole in it and almost hitting the guy in the passenger seat, who immediately took cover.

James took aim at the tyres and shot. An ear-splitting explosion was heard and the gun jerked up, his wrist acting as a hinge as the gun recoiled. The bullet went wide however, and cracked into the road beside the car.

A police siren sounded as they passed a nearby patrol, blue lights flashing as a white car came into view, tailing their pursuers.

As they sped onto the bridge, James eyed the toll booth ahead, and the car swerved to go into the E-tag lane.

The other car tried to follow, but the police car blocked its turn. It ploughed into the gate at full speed, tearing it off its hinges and losing whatever control the driver had left.

Screeching sideways across the wet road, the car was swept into oncoming traffic and smashed into a truck, creating a large pile-up. The police car came to a halt at the barrier of cars and two policemen stepped out to apprehend the occupants of the vehicle.

"They won't get done in for it" Alan said as James leaned back inside the range rover.

"What do you mean?" James asked, slipping the pistol into his belt then hiding it in his jacket. Something like that could be useful.

"Exactly what I said," He replied, as the car left the bridge and started down Warringah Freeway, "All the police officials everywhere either take bribes or work indirectly for Abstergo"

"They own almost everything" Erin led on, "In almost every industry, either directly or indirectly, they are on top."

"All this stuff about direct and indirect, what's that supposed to mean?"

"What it means, James," Brian said, "is that although they may not _appear_ to own everything, they own the companies that do."

"Oh"

/-… ./… - .- .-. -/- -/ … ..- .-. …- .. …- ./


End file.
